Sorry we haven't put any cars up for a while folks, we've just been run off of our feet. Here's the first of a few new reports, written up by Clark, posted by moi...

---

One of our customers, Chris, who's current car i'm sure you'll have seen on here before....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cs3n-1.jpg

....picked up his other toy at the weekend, a brand new RS4 Avant :cool:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4r-1.jpg

(lucky git!)

Even more annoying was that Chris had made sure the car would be handed over to him with the protective wraps still on the car, with no dealer prep at all, this clearly hadnt happened, as there was product residue on the window rubbers and in panel gaps:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4a-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4c-1.jpg

And more worrying.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4i-1.jpg

:freak3:

As always though, the car needed washed before i could properly see what i was dealing with, so it was foamed with the foam lance:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4j-1.jpg

This was left to dwell while i cleaned the wheels with a non acidic tyre and wheel gel and a MF mitt.

The car was then rinsed at high pressure before being foamed again and washed carefully with the 2 bucket method. The fingertip test revealed that the car wasnt particularly smooth so i ended up claying the whole car with a mild clay, it was quite amazing the amount of crap that came off the paint!

I then used a Tar and Glue remover to remove any transport wax on the sills/door shuts etc before giving the car a final rinse and dried off with the leaf blower as usual :)

I then put the car inside to see just how much of the dealers prep i was going to have to correct...

A light scuff on the tailgate (looked worse in the metal, my camera struggled a bit at times due to the high flake content in the paint! :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4e-1.jpg

Scuffs in/on the door handles:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4k-1.jpg

Random nicks and scratches:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4l-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4n-1.jpg

The worst bit by far was the near side wing:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4m-1.jpg

There were also holograms all over the back bumper and a couple of random ones on the front bumper, amazingly the roof was spotless! :confused:

By this point though i was pretty pi$$ed off as this was a complete joke for a brand new £50,000 car (there were alot more defects than shown above), and Chris was on the phone to myself a few times during the first day for updates as he was letting the Salesmen know just how unimpressed he was too!

Paint readings were taken and luckily there were no nasty surprises on that side of things, everything was healthy, so onto the machine polishing.

Weapons of choice for this are pictured below:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4f-1.jpg

The machine polishing alone took almost 8 hours as every single panel except the roof needed corrected, with some needing a 2nd hit to get them perfect. The nearside wing however was a different story...

Despite just looking like light swirling and marring, the scratches were pretty deep, this is what it looked like after 3 hits with the Rotary and the finishing polish:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4o-1.jpg

I had to sand this area in order to fully remove them, taking in the region of 8 microns off in the process:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4q-1.jpg

This was then polished out with the cerami-clear compound:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4t-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4u-1.jpg

Last job was to polish the front grill surround, which had horrible buffer trails all over it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4p-1.jpg

This was masked off...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4d-1.jpg

...and polished with a 4" polishing pad & the PC:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4b-1.jpg

Perfect! (although the picture focus isnt, sorry :o )

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4s-1.jpg

Once the paint had been dusted down and HD Cleansed, like his S3, Chris's RS4 was to have Vintage applied - this was also applied to all the exterior plastics and trim:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4g-1.jpg

This was left for a couple of hours while i also applied Vintage to the wheels (i find this works just aswell as wheel sealant after trying it on my own wheels), dressed the tyres, cleaned the tailpipes,detailed the interior including feeding the leather and i then gave the engine a quick spruce up before dressing with an aerospace protectant :cool:

Just before i had to go and pick Chris up i gave the car a final wipe down to remove any smears, and when we got back we took the final pics :)

Enjoy :thumb:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4h-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4rr.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4vv.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4ww.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4x.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4y.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4yy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4z.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4zz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4w-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4v-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4uu.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4ss.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4tt.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Crs4xx.jpg

I still cant believe how the dealers can mess a brand new car up so bad, especially when the RS4 i did last week came from the same place and was spot on! maybe it was out of spite?? whatever the reason it is completely unacceptable and they have been invoiced for the full amount :thumb:

Thanks to Chris for letting me work on yet another great car (and colour!), and thanks to all that took the time to read the post! :)

I really did enjoy reading this and was also very annoyed for your mate Chris. Dont know what type of a guy Chris is, but if I got mine in such a condition i would have dropped the car back off with them.

I have my new BMW 535d M sport coming in 8 weeks time and this thread has just made me paranoid lol. Im thinking what if mine comes in a similar condition :(

blimey, i'd be straight down to the dealers getting them to pay for what it cost to get it put right. that's terrible for a brand new car. looks like the work experience person was put to use with a dirty sponge!

great work as usual though guys :thumb:

Awesome! http://bestsmileys.com/coffee/3.gif (http://bestsmileys.com/coffee/3.gif)

I love reading these, you guys are awesome!
As for the dealer, I hope they reimburse your mate the costs, that was terrible for any new car, let alone one worth 50k.

:notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

great work mate, we just picked up a Z4 with the same kind of turn out from BMW :( (move down south)


:thumb:

I will be getting an S3 in the same colour in Feb (or when it arrives) I want you to work your magic on that too, looks great

Cracking results :thumb:

And glad to see the dealer has been invoced for the full amount.

Ironically, the best prepared new cars I've had were a non metallic red C2 from Citroen Glasgow (who's have thought!) (not a swirl or scratch anywhere) and the current Shogun.

Do you think the RS4 had been damaged in transit, or perhaps sitting in a showroom somewhere?

Superb work, superb car :cool:



:thumb:

I love reading these, you guys are awesome!
As for the dealer, I hope they reimburse your mate the costs, that was terrible for any new car, let alone one worth 50k.

Between Chris and I, we managed to negotiate £450 of free accessories with the sales manager, so they paid for it in a round about kind of way. :)

I will be getting an S3 in the same colour in Feb (or when it arrives) I want you to work your magic on that too, looks great

We'd be very happy to, but don't leave booking in too late - we are now fully booked to the middle of December, and about to start taking bookings for the start of 2008. :eek:

Cracking results :thumb:

And glad to see the dealer has been invoced for the full amount.

Ironically, the best prepared new cars I've had were a non metallic red C2 from Citroen Glasgow (who's have thought!) (not a swirl or scratch anywhere) and the current Shogun.

Do you think the RS4 had been damaged in transit, or perhaps sitting in a showroom somewhere?

I believe all of the defects (bar the light holograms) were caused by the valeters at the dealership, through poor wash products and techniques. Holograms are leftovers from polishing on the production line, and not uncommon on brand new cars, which sounds crazy, but is sadly true.

I believe all of the defects (bar the light holograms) were caused by the valeters at the dealership, through poor wash products and techniques. Holograms are leftovers from polishing on the production line, and not uncommon on brand new cars, which sounds crazy, but is sadly true.

Could this be the case if a car is built to order i.e. being delivered from the factory

Your attention to detail is truely amazing - I know where I'm coming when I get my new car next year :)

Could this be the case if a car is built to order i.e. being delivered from the factory

Could be, but in general swirls and scratches like those seen above are caused at dealerships, while holograms are production line or paint shop faults.

Could be, but in general swirls and scratches like those seen above are caused at dealerships, while holograms are production line or paint shop faults.

Me being me, I dont want to have to go to my main dealer and throw a fit if i find such "defects"